Growing up, every child's parents drag them to go take a picture with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.  Little children are terrorized early on by these goofy creatures in weird costumes.  The child stands in line and watches every child, before them, sit on the "creature's" lap whilea picture is taken showing a forced a smile on their face or the look of sheer terror.

Now its Ryan's turn...duh!  As a parent, you want to capture these moments, meltdowns, and all.  So, on Sunday, Ryan got his first dose of holiday pictures...this time with the Easter Bunny.  You see, he was only 2 days old on Christmas, so there was no Santa Claus picture.

And hence, this post is dedicated to Ryan's experience...

We woke up Sunday morning and it was D-day.  I had already gathered up Ryan's cute little outfit and had my morning cup of joe.  I watched Ryan in his morning routine (bottle, diaper change, play, nap) in hopes to gauge what kind of mood he would be in.  You have to mentally prepare yourself for these moments, for the sheer chance your child has a meltdown in front of the entire line of kids and their parents. 

Ryan was extra fussy that morning because he has a bad case of the sniffles and drainage thanks to mother nature and the pollen.  He had bad drainage and was getting choked on it and coughing, then when I had to use the nasal bulb on him, home-slice went berserk...with that in mind, I was definitely preparing for the worst. 

When we left the house, Russell needed to stop by Wal-mart and it was right around the time Ryan needed to be feed, then the next stop would be the Easter bunny.  I stayed in the car to feed Ryan.  While feeding, Ryan had a bad case of the drainage and was coughing.  I would stop so he could gather himself and then Ryan would freak out because he was hungry.  He failed to understand I was stopping so that he could catch his breath and get his act together.  So then, I was start feeding him again and he would get to draining and coughing, stop feeding, Ryan freak out, and....so on and so forth.  This went on FOREVER.  By the time Russell got back in the car, Ryan was still not done so we waited.  Mid-way through all of this, Ryan decided he needed to have a blow-out.  So, there we were, me trying to feed my son, my son having a fit because he was hungry but needed frequent breaks due to drainage, and then, him freaking out over the fact that there was a HUGE load in his diaper and it was steamy and smelly.

Finally the feeding was done and it was time to change Ryan's diaper.  Well friends, when I mentioned blowout early...that was just nothing.  It was more like an atomic bomb went off.  It was leaking out of Ryan's diaper and up his back.  (TMI yes I know, but get over it...this helps make the story).  So, this bomb also partially got on Ryan's cute little Easter outfit. 

With Russell gaging, he was ready to throw in the towel.  I heard the "that's it! we'll try next weekend" but I was determined to go along with plan.  I was adamant we were going to get this done (I was a bit ready to pull my hair out due to the festivities that went down in the car and wanted it all over with).  So what did this genius mom do??  I baby-wiped his shirt as clean as I could get it.  Was it spotless? Absolutely not, but, I was able to hide it tucked into his shorts.  Russell thought I was disgusting, making Ryan wear that, but hey...I cleaned it up and it was just a stain which I would remove later that night. 

So we make our way to the Easter bunny, poop stain, and all.  Ryan fell asleep on the way but when we got there, he was abruptly woken by a screaming hysterically 1-year old sitting on the bunny's lap.  I thought "oh here we go..." as I was for sure Ryan would start crying seeing the bunny holding this little girl screaming.  And then it happened, he locked eyes with the big white furry creature and didn't remove his gaze. Russell and I were waiting on pins and needles but Ryan did nothing.  Not a peep, not a sound. 

As we were next in line, it happened....ANOTHER blowout.  I felt the rumble as I was holding Ryan and then the stench followed.  Nothing I could do though, it was his turn, and we needed this over with before he started crying.  I ran up to the bunny, dropped Ryan on his lap, stench and steamy load and all, and backed away. 

I knew that the bunny had to smell what present we presented him with, but he would just have to deal with it and silently curse us.  Ryan fortunately played along and just stared ahead...but hey, he didn't cry!

Once the nightmare was all said and done with, I changed Ryan's ridiculously full blowout, got him into a spare set of clothes and we made our way around Costco where he was the happiest baby on Earth looking at everything around him.

We did manage to get this cute picture.  Ryan's probably thinking "why am I having to sit in the lap of this big white creature with a steamy mcsteamerson in my diap diap??...Thanks a lot mom and dad."

I just can't wait to tell Ryan all about this when he is older!


Cheers!
Sherri

Remember Me?

Remember that time back in January where I promised I would post more about Ryan.... MOM FAIL.

Life happened...I was adjusting to being a full time mommy, wife, business woman, maid, etc. Shew. I am exhausted just thinking about it. 

So now here you have it.  I am finally writing posts again, some 3 months later and vowing yet again, to be a better blogger.

So what did you miss, you asked??? 

Ryan's newborn photos:

 Ryan month 1:

Ryan month 2:



Ryan month 3:



His 1st St. Paddy's Day!

 


Now that you are caught up, here we are with a 3.5mo. old baby boy who will be 4 months on 4/23.  Time is flying but we are loving every minute with this smiley baby.  He knows no stranger and has the best disposition about him.  Having had to play "pass the baby" many times, he is a champ and simply smiles and coos at everyone.  We are truly some blessed parents to this handsome little man.  Here are some pics from the last few weeks:

 

Next week I PROMISE I will post his 4 month update on his stats, pics, and milestones.

Next post, our Easter bunny experience.

Cheers!

Sherri

Introducing Ryan Perry Schwartz!!

Hello blog world...remember me?  Yes, it has been a while, but you see, I have been quite busy taking care of my sweet boy.  I was never able to get around to posting the 37 week update because I received an early surprise (well, a 3 week early surprise at that). 

On Monday, December 23, 2013 at 10:48 AM, at 37 weeks and 3 days pregnant, Ryan Perry Schwartz was born into the world.  Weighing 6lb, 15oz and 20.5 in. long...he immediately stole my heart.

It is hard to believe that in just 2 days, our little boy will already be 1 month old!  I took a break from the blog world to enjoy the mommy world for a while...plus we had TONS of visitors fly in to meet this stud.  Now that we are settling in, it is time to share his birth story and start blogging again for you to stay up-to-date on Ryan :) 

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Ryan's birth story:

On Sunday, Dec. 22, Russell and I went out and about to finish up some Christmas shopping.  His parents were flying in on Monday, Dec. 23 to share Christmas with us so it was really our last day to get anything done.  After only a few hours, I was ready to call it a day and get home.  I was really retaining a LOT of fluid by that point in  my pregnancy and swelling really bad.  By the time we made it home, my back was killing me and my feet were so swollen that they barely even fit into a pair of flats.

Russell made dinner (which tasted horrible) so that I could rest as my back pain was horrible and after dinner I called it a night.  Russell on the other hand was not feeling well and had taken a new medicine for his Lyme's Disease and was having a bad reaction to it.  At 10:00 that night, he was pale, not doing well, and asked me to take him to the ER just to get looked at.  I drove him to the ER and we were there until midnight to find out he just had a bad side effect to the medicine.  We got home at midnight and I crashed. 

At 1:30 AM (12/23), I woke up to pee.  After using the restroom, I climbed back in bed and thought I was peeing myself (no joke), I got out of bed and my water broke.  And when I say broke, I mean gushed (sorry if this is TMI).  I called Russell into the bathroom and he literally had sheer panic written on his face.  I called the night nurse on staff at my OBGYN's office only to have her confirm my shock that my water probably broke and we needed to head to the hospital.  Soooo, I threw my suitcase in the car while Russell scrambled to pack his (way to be last minute) and we headed out the door.  Almost immediately my contractions started and were immediately 5 minutes apart.  We called our families on the way to keep them in the loop. But, halfway to the hospital, Russell thought he forgot his wallet, so we turned around and headed back home while I was biting my tongue so hard not to say anything.  I waited in the car almost 10 minutes dealing with contractions as he searched for his wallet ONLY to find out, he put it in the backseat and forgot.  (Again, I continued to bite my tongue.)

Once we FINALLY got the the hospital, they confirmed my water did, in fact, break and we were not gonna leave the hospital that day without a baby!  I think I was still in shock, as it didn't seem real.  I mean, we were 3 weeks early and was I really going to have a Christmas baby?  I was already 2cm dilated and 75% effaced and contractions were coming in at 5 min. a part and BOY WERE THEY PAINFUL!  For me, they felt like extreme period pains...so low in fact, that the machines were having a hard time picking up their true strength.  About 2 hours in around 4 AM, they checked me and I was 3cm and fully effaced...they could also feel the head.  I requested an epidural at that point as I was getting sick because of the pain and once that hit, I felt immediate relief.  At 6 AM the nurse came in and checked me and was shocked to find out I was already 6cm.  By 8, my doctor came on duty and checked me again and couldn't believe I was already at 8.5cm.  She still thought I had 4-5 hours so she was going to head to the office to see a few patients.  I sent Russell home to check on the dog and called my mom with the news.  She was furious with me for sending Russell home as she new how fast I was progressing and was scared to death that he wouldn't make it back to the hospital in time.  I also called Russell's mom as she was flying into Memphis that day to give her the update as well before she boarded her plane. She had already planned to fly in that day to spend Christmas with us, so lucky her, she got to be here the day he was born.   Within 45 min., the nurse checked me again and I was 9.5 cm and it was time to practice pushing.    She called the doc at her office and told her it was go time.  I jumped on the phone, scared to death, calling Russell to see where he was.  He couldn't believe it was go time, but fortunately he was 5 minutes away.  The doc came back to the hospital within 30 minutes and my 10 AM it was time to push. 

Russell stood by me and was the biggest help ever.  As I pushed, he rubbed my back, and as I took a break, he put the oxygen mask on me to help with my oxygen to help the baby.  It was just so much low pressure that the baby's heart rate would slightly drop during my contractions so they did the oxygen to help.  After 30 minutes of pushing Ryan was delivered immediately wide-eyed and crying.  Just to hear his cry was the best sound in the world.

They placed him on my chest as I cried like a baby at the most beautiful sight I have ever seen.  Nothing will ever beat the moment you hold your baby and see him for the first time.  Ryan was just staring into my eyes and I was so so so in love.  Then they took him to wash up and get his measurements and Russell followed him to take pictures. 

Although 3 weeks early, he was 100% healthy and absolutely perfect!  They then handed him to Russell and it melted my heart to see Russell hold him for the first time.

Russell's parents made it in that night around 8 PM and came to the hospital to meet our little man.  I was still so in awe at the sight of our baby boy that I didn't even want to sleep...I just wanted to stare at him.

The next day, I was healing well and really wanted to just bring our boy home.  We were able to check out and take Ryan home to spend his first Christmas Eve with us that afternoon.

To come: What our first month has been like with Ryan :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year...I know we sure did.

XOXO, Sherri